Love Can't Be Stopped
by ambush
Summary: New year, new start, new feelings. Has James' newly deflated ego and mature attitude finally won over the heart of Lily Evans? With a mixture of embarrassing situations, falling out of bed, and roaming hands, this year could be an interesting one.R&R enjo
1. Strange Feelings

Strange Feelings

Lily Evans heaved her book-filled trunk along Platform 9 ¾, searching among the sea of Hogwarts students for her two best friends, Sarah and Carman. She finally spotted them, standing next to Carmen's twin brother, waving goodbye to their parents and lugging their trunks onto the train.

"I'd better get on the train, I don't want it to go without me, and it looks as though it's about to rain!" she said to her parents while looking up at the sky, which was filled with dark grey clouds. They smiled said their goodbyes and watched Lily, as she hurried past the little first years to get to the carriage Sarah and Carmen were on.

When she eventually managed to push her way through, Lily found herself being the target of two rather forceful hugs from her best friends, due to the fact that there was much shoving going on around them.

"Ouch! – you little people need to watch where you're going!" Carmen yelled at the top of her voice, causing a sudden silence to spread among the crowd, and about a hundred pairs of eyes to stare up at her.

She sighed irritably and stomped into an empty carriage, Lily and Sarah followed, both biting back hysterical laughter.

"Wow, you really shut them up," Sarah grinned.

Carmen smirked and rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something when she noticed something. She squealed.

"Lily – you've got a head girl badge! You're head girl?!" she asked, poking at Lily's shiny badge.

Lily smiled widely and nodded. Sarah and Carmen squealed in excitement.

"Do you know who's head boy?" asked Sarah. Lily shook her head.

"No, but I'll find out soon, because I've got to go and hold the prefect meeting now, so the head boy will have to be there too." She smiled and left the carriage.

Lily leaned against the wall of the prefect carriage, waiting impatiently for the rest of the new prefects to come in, and for the head boy.

_It's probably Frank Longbottom; he was a good prefect last year._ She thought to herself.

Her thoughts were soon disturbed, when a tall, handsome, dark haired boy with glasses came strolling into the room. He was wearing a head boy badge.

Lily's jaw dropped. Her bright green eyes grew wide.

_Potter is head boy. How is that possible?_

_He has become really cute. Whoa, did I just think that?_

James Potter smiled at her, not the usual over confident smirk Lily had gotten used to, but a smile that definitely made her heart begin to beat faster.

She was so busy staring at him that she didn't even realise that he was talking to her.

"Evans? Um hello?" James waved in her face. Lily jumped, closing her mouth abruptly and blushed madly.

"Sorry I was miles away. How...Why did… umm…How?" Lily stuttered, turning her cheeks an even darker red. James laughed.

"Yeah, I was really surprised too! I was so sure Longbottom would get it."

There was an awkward silence, where only the splashing of rain from outside could be heard, causing James' cheeks to flush a deep crimson colour, making him look determinedly at his shoes, and Lily to try desperately to find something to say. However, thankfully, the prefects came trailing in for the meeting. Both James and Lily sighed in relief.

"Can you believe James is head boy? James Potter?" Carmen whispered inquisitively.

It was Charms class, and Lily, Sarah and Carmen had been discussing James being head boy.

"No, I can't," Lily said for what felt like the millionth time.

"He wasn't even prefect," Sarah commented.

They all shrugged, and got back to copying work from the blackboard.

Lily was unable to concentrate. Images of James were swimming around her mind, she just couldn't get over how good looking he had become, not to mention the fact that he didn't seem to be a complete prat anymore.

With all these thoughts mingling in her head, the hour of Charms went surprisingly quickly.

As the three of them walked out of Flitwick's classroom, James and Sirius sloped past, James saw Lily and smiled at her, causing Lily to go weak at the knees and smile stupidly back.

_Why do I feel like this whenever Potter smiles at me?_

_Because you have a huge crush on him._

_I do not._

_Do too._

_Shut up._

Sarah noticed this and smiled knowingly to herself.

"What are you all smiley about?" Carmen questioned, totally oblivious to what had just happened.

Sarah gave her a look that said 'I'll tell you later', and Carmen nodded.

Later that same day, during a free period, Lily had gone to the library, so Carmen had used this as an opportunity to ask Sarah about before.

"So, what's up?"

Sarah smiled excitedly. Carmen looked confused.

"I have the feeling that Lily fancies someone!" Sarah said quietly but quickly.

Carmen grinned mischievously.

"Who, WHO?"

"James"

"James Potter?"

"The very same"

Carmen's chocolate brown eyes widened and she had an amazed look etched on her face.

"Does James still have a crush on Lils?" she wondered.

Sarah shrugged. Her eyes fell onto the door of the common room, and she quickly hid behind a book.

Carmen whipped around to see Lily coming towards them with a pile of books in her arms.

"- hey Lils!" she smiled widely.

Lily smiled, but looked suspicious when she looked at Sarah.

"Hi. Sarah, why are you reading a book upside down?"

Sarah appeared from behind the book, and grinned sheepishly.

Lily laughed, placed her library books carefully on the table, and flopped down on an armchair.

Suddenly, Lily yelped, and shot out of her chair.

"I'm late for Head duties!"

Carman and Sarah chuckled helplessly.

Carmen's older twin brother, Dominic, strode past out of nowhere.

"What are you girlies laughing at?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

Carmen rolled her eyes, while Sarah suddenly became rather fidgety, and stared firmly at her feet.

"It's none of yours Dom, now can you leave please?" Carmen said her arms folded.

"Fine."

Dominic sat in a chair directly in front of the girls.

"Do you mind?" Carmen snapped.

"What, I'm not doing anything," he replied smirking.

"You're in my line of sight."

Dominic sighed exaggeratedly, and went to sit with his classmates.

Sarah glared at Carmen.

"You know, there was no need to be so mean to him, he was only asking a question," she said crossly.

Carmen looked at her strangely.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't."

Carmen dropped it, but continued to look at her strangely.

Lily arrived out of breath, to find James waiting patiently for her. She gulped inwardly and walked towards him.

"Sorry I'm late."

_Evans is saying sorry? That's a first._

"No problem."

_Ohmigod I bet I'm all red from running all the way here. But who cares what Potter thinks?_

_You do._

They started walking along the corridor together, Lily getting increasingly more nervous.

James took fleeting glances at her now and again.

_She is really pretty. Oh great. Just as you start to get over her, you fall for her all over again. Good going Potter._

Lily saw through the corner of her eye, that James was gazing at her, with a slight smile grazing his lips. Lily felt herself heat up and her heartbeat quicken.

_Calm down. It's only Potter. Why are you getting yourself all worked up over him?_

_Because he is so gorgeous. _

_He is not._

_Is too._

Lily shook herself out of this sudden mad argument going on in her brain.

James watched her with interest. Lily gave him a swift glance, turned a brilliant red, and quickly began concentrating on the floor.

She cursed silently to herself for being so obvious.

James smiled. He noticed Lily's nervousness, and it gave James butterflies in his stomach.

They carried on patrolling the corridor, both thinking of the strange new feelings that were taking over them, and trying to deny them. Nonetheless, however much they denied it, both hoped deep inside, that the other felt the same way. If only they knew.


	2. Wrong Side of the Bed

Wrong Side of the Bed

Sarah snapped open her eyes to find Carmen splashing water on her face. She sat up so quickly that Carmen dropped the glass bowl filled with water she had been holding. It smashed on the cold stone floor, completely drenching Sarah, and made Lily scream and fall out of bed. Carmen and Lily stared at each other for a few seconds before exploding into fits of laughter.

"Well I'm glad you two find this so hilarious," Sarah muttered.

They continued to giggle hysterically, both clutching their sides. Sarah groaned, fixing the broken bowl with a flick of her wand, and went to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Lily, Sarah and Carmen sat at the table eating breakfast. Sarah had just taken a sip of icy pumpkin juice from her goblet, when Dominic walked past and caught her eye. She gasped and swallowed at the same time, choking. Dominic came over quickly and started smacking her on the back as Carmen and Lily stared nervously. The choking ceased, leaving a very red Sarah coughing slightly. She looked up at Dominic and smiled.

"Thanks," she said hoarsely. He smiled warmly, patted her gently on her shoulder and walked off. Sarah gazed thoughtfully at him as he walked away from her, and turned around to find her two friends grinning knowingly at her.

"What?" she asked blushing furiously.

"Oh, come on! It's SO obvious you have a crush on Dom!" Lily whispered rather loudly.

"Lils! Shut up, you're speaking so loud."

"Oops. I'm sorry."

Sarah rolled her eyes in frustration. She could sense that today was going to be a long one.

Later that day, during free time, everyone was either lounging by the lake, or playing Exploding Snap in their common rooms—everyone, except James, Sirius and Remus. The three friends were in detention together, cleaning the trophies in the Trophy Room, after having been caught pulling a prank on Severus Snape. Peter, however, had managed to get away before McGonagall found him.

"I can't believe that Wormtail didn't own up, and do the detention with us. He was part of the trick as well," complained Sirius.

"He was probably afraid to turn himself in," Remus replied.

"Coward," James muttered.

They continued polishing the trophies, all three looking a little annoyed. A little while later, McGonagall came in, checked the trophies, and dismissed them, and they hurried out, not wanting to miss the last hour of free time.

"Well I'm glad that's over. What do you wanna do now?" Sirius wondered aloud. Remus shrugged and looked at James hoping for a suggestion, but saw that he had his eyes fixed longingly at something in front of him—or rather someone. That someone just happened to be Lily Evans, who was with her friends.

"Prongs, mate, you're drooling," Sirius remarked, sniggering. Remus smirked and gave James a prod on the arm. James jumped slightly and his cheeks reddened. Lily, Carmen and Sarah walked past them. Sarah and Carmen gave the boys a wave; Lily smiled shyly at James, making him almost melt.

"Wow, Lily actually smiled at you. Now there's something I never thought I'd live to see," Remus observed, looking pensive. James smiled to himself.

_She smiled at me. Does this mean she likes me? _

_I wouldn't count on it._ He thought miserably.

_You never know though…_

Sirius and Remus watched him carefully. He seemed like he was in a world of his own, staring into space.

"Earth to Prongs! Hello?" Sirius yelled in James' ear. James jerked out of his thoughts and looked at Sirius.

"What?" Sirius stared at him in disbelief.

"Snap out of it man! Wake up, you're being all different around Evans lately. She's just a girl—come on there are much prettier fish than her in the sea."

"Well I don't want any other _fish_. She's smarter and more attractive than any other girl I've ever met," James snapped. Remus shot a surprised look at James, as did Sirius.

"We didn't know you liked her this much mate," Remus said, patting his friend on the shoulder. James sighed and tried to smile, failing miserably. Remus and Sirius exchanged a worried look; they had never seen James look so defeated.

"You'll get over her though, right?" Sirius asked.

"That's the thing. I'm not sure I will," James sighed again. Today was not turning out to be particularly good for the Marauders.

Carmen watched her two best friends with interest from behind a copy of The Daily Prophet. She had started noticing small changes in the way they acted around certain people. Certain people such as James Potter and Dominic Wilson, her brother. The common room door swung open, and Dominic came in, looking tired and stressed.

"Hey, Dom what's wrong?" she questioned him, putting down the newspaper. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sarah staring at him anxiously. Dominic glanced up at Carmen and smiled wearily.

"Nothing. Just lots of revision for the N.E.W.T.s," he explained.

"But Dom, the N.E.W.T.s aren't until May next year. We've got about eight months," Carmen said, confused. Dom frowned.

"What? It's December, Carmen." Carmen's eyes widened.

"But the Prophet says it's Tuesday, 29th September," she said, picking up the paper and showing them.

"Carmen, that paper is three months old!" Sarah exclaimed, trying not to laugh.

"Oh! Does that mean the half-price Honeydukes sale is over?" Carmen moaned. Lily, Sarah and Dom burst out laughing. Even Carmen grinned at her own foolishness. Suddenly, the door opened again, and James, Sirius and Remus came traipsing in, looking somewhat despondent—James especially.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Lily asked worriedly. James looked at her intently for a few seconds before smiling softly.

"Nothing. I guess it's just been a bad day," he answered.

"Believe me, I think we've all had a bad day today," Sarah remarked. The others nodded in agreement.

"Maybe we just woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Remus suggested, grinning. All seven of them laughed. They may have had a bad day, but where bad comes, good usually follows.


	3. A Clever Plan

A Clever Plan

One bright, but chilly afternoon, James, Remus, Sirius and Peter, were lounging on the chairs in the common room, moaning about N.E.W.T.s.

"I see no point in revising, I usually do fine without having to revise," Sirius said, yawning.

Remus rolled his eyes good-naturedly at him.

"I agree, Sirius," Peter said.

Sirius mimicked Remus at this comment. He nudged James.

"Prongs, are you even listening to us?"

"Yes, of course," he responded.

"What did Wormtail just say then?"

James hesitated, and sighed.

"Sorry, guys, I was thinking about other stuff. I'd better go to my detention with Filch," he said, sighing again.

The other, three Marauders watched him carefully as he sloped out of the common room. They shot each other a concerned look.

"We've got to do something about this," Remus said firmly.

Carmen and Sarah came towards them, looking interested.

"Do something about what?" Sarah enquired.

The three friends looked up at them.

"Do something about James and Lily," Peter told them.

Carmen and Sarah glanced at each other, before smiling keenly at the boys.

"So, what do you suppose we do?" Carmen asked, her eyes glittering mischievously.

They all huddled together, and discussed the plan in which to get Lily and James together.

Lily was sitting in the library, doing her homework; her books sprawled out all over the table. She glanced up from her work to find her two best friends walking towards her.

"Hi Lils," Carmen and Sarah said, smiling.

"Hey," Lily replied quickly.

Sarah and Carmen sat down opposite Lily, and whispered animatedly to each other. Lily looked up at them, and scowled.

"If you're going to be in the library, at least keep it down a bit,"

They turned towards her, both with an elated beam plastered on their faces.

"What's with you two today?" Lily asked.

"Nothing," they answered in unison, but their ecstatic grins told another story.

Lily heaved a sigh, and put down her quill.

"I'm not going to be able to concentrate properly until you tell me,"

"You won't believe us," Sarah protested.

Lily shrugged and continued to gaze intently at them, until Carmen couldn't stand it anymore.

"Fine, James still really fancies you, Lily," she said.

Sarah shot Carmen feigned glare, and kicked her under the table. She looked back at Lily.

"Ouch! You didn't need to kick me," Carmen whinged.

Sarah ignored her, not taking her eyes off Lily, who was staring into space, her face filled with an expression of pure surprise and hope. After a few minutes of complete silence, Lily spoke.

"Does he really still like me?"

Sarah and Carmen nodded enthusiastically. Lily smiled broadly, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

"How do you know?"

"We overheard Sirius, Remus and Peter talking about it this morning," Carmen lied smoothly. "I think you should go talk to him."

"What if he's still the arrogant, mean person, we used to know him as?

"He really isn't Lils, Remus says, that, apart from the odd prank now and again, he has really grown up – Sirius didn't look too pleased though!" Sarah said. "I agree with Carmen, just talk to him."

Lily breathed out nervously, stood up, and glanced apprehensively at Carmen and Sarah, who nodded encouragingly at her. She picked up her books and work, and walked rapidly out of the library.

Sarah smiled gleefully at Carmen, who beamed widely back, giving her a high five.

"The plan is working," Sarah muttered to Carmen. She smiled triumphantly.

James came back from his detention with Filch, looking tired and annoyed.

"Hey Prongs, how was the detention?" Remus asked.

James flopped down on a chair, and ran his fingers exasperatedly through his already tousled hair.

"Absolutely awful, couldn't have gone worse, it was cleaning the trophies again. I swear, Filch must have a non-clean charm on them especially for my detentions, because, however much I scrubbed, they just would not get clean," he explained, groaning.

"Ah, don't worry, least it's over now. Plus, your day may pick up," Sirius said, trying hard not to grin.

James looked confused.

"How might it pick up, Padfoot?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe something good may happen," Sirius said, innocently. Peter chuckled in the background.

James frowned slightly. Suddenly, the common room door opened, and Lily came in, holding many books, and looking unusually happy. She smiled at James, and walked up to him, placing her books on the table on her way.

"Hi, can we talk, in private?" she asked timidly.

James nodded. She turned to walk out of the common room. James spun round, giving his fellow friends a shrug and went to follow Lily.

Once they were away from prying eyes, Lily stopped and faced James, her breathing become shallower, due to her nerves. James fidgeted with the sleeve of his jumper, looking anywhere except directly at Lily.

Lily plucked up her courage, and put her hands on James', making him look up unexpectedly. She smiled, and took a step closer towards him. James' heart rate quickened, as she did so.

"James," she said softly.

He stared at her in disbelief at the use of his first name.

"Yes?"

Lily didn't answer, but looked into his deep brown eyes and sighed with contentment. James smiled, and positioned his right hand on her waist, pulling her gently to him. Lily's feelings suddenly burst, and she flung her arms around his neck and brought his head forward to meet hers, the space between them disappeared abruptly, and before they knew it, their lips had met in a soft, sweet, chaste kiss, which filled their bodies with warmth and pleasure.

James moved his hands, so that they were both around her waist protectively, Lily's were hugging his neck lovingly. They fit together perfectly, like jigsaw pieces. Their kiss soon grew more passionate as they grew more confident. James tenderly pushed Lily forward, so she was pressed firmly between the wall and James, with no way of escaping. Not that she wanted to escape.

Lily ran her fingers slowly, through his soft, jet-black hair, making it stick up even more than usual, while James rubbed his hands intimately down her back, causing a pleasurable shiver to flow up her body.

After maybe several minutes, though what seemed like hours, they broke apart, their hair mussed up, and their lips quite swollen. Lily laughed nervously as she realised what had just happened. James' eyes were wide.

"I'm sorry Lily – "James began, but Lily put her fingers to his lips.

"Don't be. I'm not," and she pulled him close for another deep, intense kiss.

Watching, with great difficulty, from beneath James' invisibility cloak, were Carmen, Sarah, Remus, Sirius and Peter, who were all grinning from ear to ear.

"Well guys, we've done it!" Sirius whispered. They nodded happily.

Mischief managed.


	4. An Unexpected Occurrence

An Unexpected Occurrence

Lily and James sat opposite each other at breakfast, sneaking glances at one another as often as possible. This didn't go unnoticed by their friends.

"You two are really cute as a couple," Sarah commented between mouthfuls of cornflakes. Carmen nodded in agreement. Both girls were beaming happily. Lily blushed, as did James.

"Yes, well, as cute as you are, you better not keep going off together all the time, and leaving us lot in the lurch. It wouldn't be right," Sirius insisted. Remus laughed.

Sarah laughed mockingly. Sirius shot her an evil look.

"I'll try not to keep James all to myself," Lily replied, smiling. James grinned in response.

"I know it will be hard," he added. Lily slapped him playfully.

As soon as breakfast was finished, and James and Lily had left the Great Hall, James pulled her into a deserted corridor.

"There's a Hogsmead visit this weekend, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me," James mumbled quickly, looking down at the floor. Lily smiled at his sudden shyness.

"I'd love to go with you." James looked up, and grinned sheepishly. He leaned forward and gave her a tender, chaste kiss on the lips. Lily gazed at him coyly.

"Great! I really need to go to class now, but I'll meet up with you after lessons," James said hurriedly. He kissed her sweetly on the nose, and left to go to class. Lily sighed to herself, and leaned against the wall. She couldn't stop smiling.

Carmen walked out of the Transfiguration classroom with Sarah and Lily, and together, they walked to lunch. Sarah was complaining.

"I know he can't help having a big head, but it's right there, in the way, all the time!" she moaned. Lily giggled.

They turned a corner, and bumped straight into a tall, seventh year boy, with longish, brown hair.

"Oh, sorry!" Lily and Sarah apologised hurriedly, walked on, and began muttering again. He made a quick apology, smiled briefly, and walked away. Carmen couldn't help gaping at him as he left.

_Wow, I think I've melted. That was the most beautiful smile ever. Did he smile at me?_

_No, it must have been at Lily or Sarah._

_It could have been me though…_

She snapped herself out of her momentary trance, and caught up with her friends.

Later that night, the girls and the marauders were hanging out in the festively decorated common room, by the blazing fire; Lily curled up comfortably in James' lap.

"So, who are the rest of you going to Hogsmead with, then?" Lily asked, leaning her head back against James' shoulder.

"I happen to be going with Bridget Coleman, that good looking sixth year," Sirius said, yawning.

"Hey, weren't you going out with that other sixth year, what was her name? Oh yeah, Katy Downs," James comment, confused.

"Hello? Where have you been? I ended that last night."

James grinned at his best friend. Remus rolled his eyes. Peter laughed nervously.

"Right…What about you two?" James nodded to Carmen and Sarah.

"No one," they said, somewhat melancholy. Remus raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Why not?"

Carmen shrugged, acting as though she didn't care, but Sarah wasn't as good at pretending, and looked away from everyone's gazes, saying nothing. Lily's eyes widened slightly as she caught on.

"Hey, haven't we got to do that, erm, that erm thing, yeah? Let's go to the dorm, night guys," Lily lied quickly, kissing James briefly, and pulling Sarah and Carmen by their arms up to the girls' dormitory, leaving the boys staring, utterly baffled.

"What the hell was that?" Remus asked.

"Dunno," Peter replied.

James and Sirius shrugged.

"I swear, girls come from some crazy planet," James commented. His fellow marauders nodded in agreement.

Up in the girls' dormitory, the girls had plonked themselves on Sarah's messy, un-made, bed.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Sarah asked, looking almost as confused as the marauders.

"Because I know that you're hiding something, now spill," Lily said, getting under the covers.

"Hey, don't get too comfy, this is my bed –"Sarah started, but a menacing look from Lily cut her off. Carmen gestured for her to fire away. She sighed.

"Well, I - I - Ikindalikeyourbrother," she mumbled hurriedly.

"Huh?"

Sarah took a deep breath, and began again.

"I kind of like your brother."

Carmen stared, her mouth dropped open.

"Really?"

"Yes."

Lily watched Carmen anxiously, she was obviously thinking hard about what Sarah had told them.

"Wow, well I really wasn't expecting that. Whoa, okay then. Well I guess it doesn't really matter who you fancy, it was just a shock, that's all," Carmen finally said. Sarah let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks for being so supportive, Carmen" Sarah smiled, and gave her a friendly hug.

"Hey, I'm supportive as well!" Lily wined. Sarah and Carmen laughed, and pulled her into a hug.

It was getting late, and most of the Hogwarts students were in bed. It was a chilly winter night, and Sarah was freezing, as she had left her blanket down in the Gryffindor common room. She traipsed down the cold, stone steps, and went into the common room. It was warm, and the flicker of the flames gave the room a cosy feeling. As she leaned over the sofa to get her blanket, she noticed that someone was sitting there. Catching her by surprise, she gasped, jumping backwards and falling over the chair behind her. The person stood up to look at her. It was Dominic, Carmen's twin brother.

_Oh no, It's Dom, what am I going to do? I have made a complete idiot of myself!_

_Yep._

_What am I supposed to do?_

_Stay and wait for the world to end, I guess._

"Sarah, are you okay?" Dom asked worriedly, gently pulling her to her feet. She smiled gratefully.

"Yes, thank you," she said, feeling stupid.

Dom patted her shoulder, and glanced at his watch.

"Whoa, it's getting late, I should go."

He was about to leave, when he looked up shortly. He stood still, looked back down at Sarah, and grinned sheepishly, pointing towards the ceiling. Sarah switched her gaze to what he was pointing at, and blushed. It was mistletoe. She bravely looked him in the eye, and without giving her time to think, Dom swiftly pressed his lips against her own. A spark of electricity swam through them, causing both to jump slightly. He moved closer, they kissed deeply for what seemed like forever, and then broke apart, gasping. Dom looked at Sarah, as though seeing her in a new light, while Sarah put her hand to her mouth, in disbelief at what she had just done. They stood in an agonizing silence, before some footsteps caused them to look round.

"Hey, I thought I heard some noise, what's up?" Remus wondered aloud, running his hand through his brown, mussed up hair.

"Um, I erm, I came to get my blanket, night Remus, Dom," Sarah stuttered, grabbing her blanket, and practically running from the room. Dom stared after her longingly.

"I'd erm better be getting to bed too, erm night," Dom muttered, and walked away, putting his hand to his mouth, remembering the kiss that he and Sarah had just shared. Remus looked confused, again.

"What just happened?" he asked the void.

Oh, if the common room could answer…


	5. Spilled Beans

Spilled Beans 

It was a snowy morning, and everyone was in the Great Hall, eating breakfast. Sarah kept staring at Dom from across the Gryffindor table, and thinking about what had happened the night before. Every now and then, he would meet her gaze, only to look away, quickly. She sighed, and took a bite of her jammy toast dejectedly.

Carmen's eyes scanned the tables, searching for the boy she bumped into yesterday. She was about to admit defeat, when suddenly, a seventh year boy with longish brown hair came through, into the Hall, and sat down at the Ravenclaw table.

_That's him! That's him!_ _Wow, he's even cuter than he was yesterday. I wonder what his name is._

She smiled dreamily, and absentmindedly filled her already full, glass of pumpkin juice, with water making it overflow, run off the table and seep through her uniform.

"Oh damn it!" she cried, loudly, jumping up. She had liquid stains all down her front, and she was attracting many stares. "What am I going to do now?"

"Calm down – have you heard of a wand?" Lily said, swishing her own wand, making the stains disappear.

"Oh right, sorry."

Carmen sighed, sitting back down.

"What is with you this morning?" Sarah enquired.

"Nothing," Carmen stated, quickly.

Lily and Sarah exchanged confused looks, but shrugged it off.

Carmen glanced over her shoulder, in the hope that the dream boy from Ravenclaw hadn't noticed her little outburst. Luckily, he hadn't, he was busily joking around with his mates. Even though she was relieved he didn't see her, something inside her _wanted _him to notice her. She rested her chin on her hand moodily, hoping that she would forget about him during the rest of the day.

At lunch, Lily, Carmen, Sarah, James, Peter and Sirius were sitting together on the Gryffindor table. They had become closer friends since Lily and James had started going out.

"Hey, guys, where's Remus?" Lily suddenly wondered. The boys shot each other tentative looks. The girls didn't yet know about Remus' 'Furry little problem'.

"Oh, he wasn't feeling too good," James lied quickly. Fortunately, the girls didn't ask any further questions, but still looked a little suspicious.

That weekend, students were getting ready for the Hogsmead trip, two people who were especially enthusiastic about it, were Lily and James.

"Mate, are you sure I look alright? You're not just saying it to shut me up?" James asked repeatedly, trying desperately to flatten his hair, causing it to stick up even more. Remus, Peter and Sirius all groaned simultaneously.

"Well, a part of me is just saying it to shut you up, but it is also based around truth, now can you please just give it a rest," Remus said sternly, his hands resting firmly on James' shoulders, trying to calm him down, but failing gloomily.

"Are you sure though?"

Sirius threw a pillow at his head, hard.

"Do I look okay? Is the makeup too much? I don't usually wear makeup," Lily questioned, looking worriedly into her mirror.

"Yes you look fine, and no the makeup isn't too much."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"You know, I thought it was cute at first, but now you're driving me insane!" Carmen shouted agitatedly.

"Sorry, guys, I'm just so nervous, and a part of me is still wondering if going out with him was a good idea."

"Stop worrying. Listen, after this date, all you're worries and doubts will have disappeared – trust me," Sarah ensured, giving her an encouraging hug. Lily smiled widely at her two best friends, and walked out of the dormitory to meet James in the common room.

James waited patiently for Lily, by the fire in the common room. He heard footsteps; he spun around to find Lily walking slowly towards him, smiling bashfully. Even though she was only wearing normal, everyday wear, she still left him breathless.

"Wow, you look so beautiful Miss Evans," he muttered in her ear, deeply, causing a shiver to run through her body. She kissed his cheek softly in response.

"You don't look too bad yourself Mr Potter," she replied in a playful voice James had never heard before.

He smiled, entwining his fingers with hers. They left the common room, holding hands.

Later on, Carmen and Sarah were sitting in the common room. Lily and James were still on their date, the Marauders, and most of the other Griyffindors were at Hogsmead. Carmen was looking distantly out of the window, dreaming of the Ravenclaw boy, while Sarah was putting several books back into the bookcase. All of a sudden, Dominic came into the room.

"Hi, Dom," Carmen called, absentmindedly.

Sarah looked up abruptly, dropping all of the books she was holding. Dom rushed over, and picked up the books for her. Their eyes locked for a moment, but Dom looked away shyly, his cheeks pink. He gave her the books and walked away, quickly. Sarah groaned inwardly. Carmen, who had been watching, had a strange look on her face.

"What was that?"

"Um, what was what?" Sarah said, feigning confusion.

"What was with you and Dom? He gave you a weird look and went all red, and you dropped all of your books."

"Oh erm, well um, I didn't notice anything about Dom, and I guess I was just holding too many books."

Carmen shook her head, bewildered, and went back to daydreaming. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

James and Lily were walking through Hogsmead hand in hand, talking cheerfully with one another.

"Hey, let's go in Honeydukes, they have the best sugar quills in there," Lily said, pulling James into the shop.

"Alright, I might get some pepper imps, but only if we can go in Zonkos as well, because I really want to get some dungbombs," he replied absentmindedly. Lily bit her lip worriedly.

_Oh no, maybe he really is still as arrogant and horrible as he used to be. _She thought apprehensively. All her former doubts and worries flooded her mind again.

Later on, just as it was turning dark, they were drinking butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, when James turned to Lily.

"Lily, what's wrong, you've been really quiet, have I done something? He asked a worried look on his face.

Lily forced a smile.

"Nothing, I'm just a little tired, do you want to go back to school now?"

James looked at his watch, and yelped.

"Oh shoot, I needed to meet Sirius and Peter ten minutes ago, I am so sorry Lily, I really have to go, but I'll catch up with you tomorrow okay?" James kissed her briefly, and hurried out of the Three Broomsticks. Lily glared to herself.

_I am so stupid. Of course he hasn't changed, he is probably meeting up to do some trick on Severus again. How could I think that he could have changed so suddenly?_

She finished off the last of her drink, grabbed her coat, and walked outside huffily.

Sarah and Carmen were walking past the Three Broomsticks, when they saw Lily bursting out of the door, alone, looking rather upset. They ran over to her.

"Hey, Lils what's happened, where's James?" Carmen asked putting an arm round Lily.

"How could I be so dense? How could I think that he could be different?" she said, to no one in particular. Sarah and Carmen gave each other confused looks.

"Lils, what are you talking about?"

"James, he just left me. To go pull some wretched prank, no doubt. I knew going out with him was a mistake," she said, her eyes slowly filling up.

Sarah and Carmen engulfed her in a comforting hug, concerned looks mirrored on both of their faces, as Lily let her tears flow.

Meanwhile, James had reached Sirius and Peter by the womping willow. Sirius was looking extremely impatient, and Peter was looking nervous.

"Where have you been? Wormtail and I have been waiting here ages!" Sirius hissed angrily at James.

"I am so sorry, I lost track of time," he replied. Sirius groaned.

"Well, we need to hurry."

All three of them rapidly morphed into their animagus form, and hurried towards the large tree. Peter, being a rat, and being the smallest, pressed the knot, immediately freezing the attacking branches, Sirius, the back dog, and James, the stag, swiftly followed Peter into the tunnel, which was imbedded deep inside the tree.

Once Lily, Carmen, and Sarah were back at school, and inside the warm common room, they sat down by the fireplace.

"Now, Lily, tell us what happened," Sarah insisted.

"Well, we were fine at first, we were having fun, but then he said that he needed to buy dungbombs, so I started to worry a bit. I thought that maybe he was planning to play a mean trick on some poor little first year or something. Then later, when we were in the Three Broomsticks, he suddenly said that he needed to meet Sirius and Peter, so he just left me and ran off," Lily explained, sniffing, and wiping her eyes.

"Well, you know, there may be a reasonable explanation," Carmen suggested, shrugging.

Lily laughed bitterly. Sarah sighed; everything seemed to be going downhill.

A couple of days later, Remus was back in school again, and Lily was ignoring a puzzled James. The marauders were hanging out by the lake.

"What's up with you and Lily, Prongs? I hear she's been ignoring you," Remus commented. James shrugged.

"I have no idea. Maybe it was because I rushed off at the end of our date," James replied, frowning slightly.

"Did you tell her why you had to leave?" Remus asked slowly. James shook his head.

"Well then, that's probably why. She possibly thought that you were going to do something mean."

James frowned.

"Why would she think that?"

Remus sighed exasperatedly.

"Because she probably already had doubts beforehand, and you going off like that, might have made her doubts increase," Remus explained.

James gaped at him, and then smiled.

"What I do without you Moony?" he said grinning.

"Well you wouldn't be going out with Lily, that's for sure," Sirius remarked, making Peter laugh.

"It's not my fault anyway; I can't just tell her a secret that belongs to you, Moony. She'll get over it," James said, lying back on the grass.

_Somehow, I don't think so. Maybe it's time to take matters into my own hands…_ Remus thought to himself.

Lily was sitting in the library, alone, doing a rather long, potions essay, when Remus came and sat down on a chair, next to her.

"Hi, Lily,"

"Hello," she replied stiffly.

"Look, I know you're angry at James, for leaving you in the lurch on Saturday, but there was a reason for it," he began.

Lily put down her quill, and waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath, and told her everything. All about changing into a werewolf at the full moon, and James, Sirius and Peter each being an animagus so that they can keep him company. Lily listened intently until he was done.

"He didn't want to tell you, because he didn't want to betray my trust," he finished, hoping that this revelation would sort everything out.

Lily didn't move a muscle. She stared, shell-shocked at what he had told her.

At last, she spoke.

"Wow. I, erm, wow. So you change into a werewolf each month, and James, Sirius and Peter all became an animagus, so that you weren't lonely during the full moon?"

Remus nodded. Lily let out a long breath.

"That must be so terrible for you Remus, to go through that every single month. What they did, it's just, I mean that is just, such an amazing thing to do for a friend, I can't believe it. James still kept your trust, even when we asked him about it. He wasn't pulling a prank on Saturday, he was keeping you company," she said slowly to herself, letting it sink in.

"I need to talk to James, thanks Remus, you're a good friend," she said, giving him a friendly hug, and walked out of the library, clutching her books. Remus breathed a sigh of relief, running a hand through his brown hair.

Carmen and Sarah were chatting to each other in their dormitory, sitting crossed legged in their pyjamas on Carmen's bed, eating a huge bag of crisps.

"I hope Lily's okay, I want to go and comfort her," Sarah said worriedly.

"I do too, but she said she wanted to be alone, and I'm sure she'll be fine" Carmen assured her. Sarah nodded.

"Anyway, what's new with you?" Sarah asked Carmen interestedly. Carmen chewed her lip and blushed girlishly. She kept quiet for bit, but being Carmen, she just couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Well, alright, I kind of have a crush on someone," she said looking at the ceiling. Sarah squealed, and bounced up and down on the bed. Carmen grinned.

"Who is it?"

"Well, I erm, don't know his name," she said quietly, feeling silly.

"How can you properly fancy him, if you don't know him?"

"Dunno, love at first sight you could say." Sarah giggled. Carmen took another handful of crisps.

"So, 'ave you got any gossip?" Carmen asked through a mouthful of salty crisps.

"No," she lied hastily. Carmen's eyes widened.

"You do! What's happened?"

Sarah squeezed her eyes tight shut, in the hope that she wouldn't have to tell, but of course, she couldn't keep it from her best friend for too long.

"Um, well. It happened by accident really. I happened to be under it and so did he, and it just happened, but it won't happen again, I'm sure –"Sarah mumbled. Carmen burst out laughing.

"Sarah? You're burbling,"

"Am I? Well, okay, I'm just going to say it, and you have every right to be mad at me. Okay. I kissed your brother," she said quietly, her eyes tight shut, not being brave enough to look Carmen in the eye at that moment.

There was total silence. The only noise was the gentle ticking from the muggle alarm clock, sitting on Lily's bedside table.

"Oh," was all Carmen could manage to say.

"I'm really, really sorry Car, I didn't mean to. He initiated it, but I didn't exactly stop it either…" Sarah trailed off.

"No, no don't worry. I'm not mad at you, it's just, weird, you know. It's my best friend and my brother, my brother and my best friend; it's hard to come to terms with," Carmen explained slowly, now pacing the dormitory.

"We're not going out or anything, he just did it because of the mistletoe," Sarah added quickly. "He doesn't like me that way."

_Does he? _

"Oh, right. So you're not going out with him then?"

"No," Sarah replied shortly.

_Oh, but I wish I was._

Carmen relaxed a little, and sat back down on the bed, grabbing a crisp. Sarah lightened the mood, and changed the subject, even though inside, all she could think about was Dominic.

Lily hurried along the corridor, in the hope of finding James. She looked through the windows, and saw him, walking through the grounds, larking around with Sirius. She sighed, and smiled to herself. She leaned against the windowsill, and stared at him. She realised, in those few minutes of watching him laugh hysterically at something Sirius said, that even though he didn't take studies as seriously as she did, and even though he tended to muck around a lot, she wouldn't have him any other way.


	6. Christmas Surprises

The brisk wind slapped Lily's face as she rushed out of the castle onto the grounds to catch up with James. He was talking with Sirius when he turned slightly.

At the sight Lily, James spun around. Lily stopped and stood still. They looked at each other for a moment before she ran towards him.  
James smiled and caught her as she threw herself into his arms.

"I'm so sorry that I left you so suddenly at Hogsmeade. I know I should have told you why, but -" James began, letting go of Lily.

"I know. I was upset at first, but then Remus told me why you had to leave. I understand now, and I'm not mad at you," Lily explained. James stopped dead.

"He told you?" Sirius and James asked in unison, their eyes wide.

Lily nodded.

"Oh," was the only thing James and Sirius could say.

"I can't believe he would tell you that, just to bring us together again," James said, after a moment's silence.

"I know — he is an amazing friend," Lily responded quietly.

She smiled and kissed James on the lips. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Hey come on you two, innocent eyes over here!" he moaned. James surfaced, grinning.

"Oh yeah, innocent, that's for sure," Lily muttered to herself. James put his arm around her and the three friends walked back to the school.

It was nearing the Christmas holidays, and Sarah and Carmen were cramming in their last minute revision for their N.E.W.T.s when Dominic appeared through the portrait hole.

Sarah looked up and saw him. i I really ought to talk to him, just to make sure we're okay/i she thought, getting up from her seat and edging towards him.

"Hi Dom," she said.

Dominic, who had obviously heard her, walked to the other side of the room to where his friends were. Sarah frowned.

i He must have heard me – why is he ignoring me/i

"Dom," she called, a few of his friends looked up and nudged him, but he looked away determinedly.

i How rude! It is one thing to be embarrassed about what happened, but it's no excuse to ignore me completely/i She thought lividly.

And with that, she determinedly marched over to Dom and tapped him hard on the shoulder. Dom slowly turned to face her.

"Didn't you hear me? I said 'hi!'" she said in his ear. He cowered.

"Yes, I heard you," he replied quietly.

"Well, why did you ignore me?"

"I don't know."

Sarah laughed bitterly.

"You don't know? Well you're original aren't you?"

"Could you maybe speak quieter? People are staring."

People had indeed paused from their activities to watch the eruption that was about to happen.

"I'll be as loud as I want to be, thank you very much!" retorted Sarah, becoming more and more furious.

Sirius, Lily and James entered the room to find Sarah looking heatedly up at a recoiling Dom. The threesome looked at each other, confused.

"Look, you were avoiding me as well, you know," Dom said defensively.

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"No, I wasn't!"

"Yes, you were!"

"Look, don't turn this around, you were the – " Sarah was cut off by Dom who suddenly pressed his lips onto hers.

Everything went silent. Time seemed to stand still. After a moment, the two of them pulled away. Sarah blinked profoundly, completely shocked by what had happened. She looked over at Carmen, who looked as startled as Sarah felt. The two friends locked gazes for a moment, before Carmen swallowed and smiled at Sarah.

"It's okay. I don't mind," Carmen admitted, shrugging.

Sarah smiled back, and Dom took her hand and led her out of the common room. The chattering soon started up again, and Lily walked up to Carmen.

"Wow, that was unexpected," Lily stated, her eyes still wide.

"Mmm," Carmen murmured.

"You took it very well, I must say."

Carmen smiled weakly, and Lily patted her comfortingly on the back.

Sarah followed Dom out of the common room, past the Fat Lady, who seemed to be enjoying a rather large bottle of champagne.

Sarah had a huge smile forming on her face. Dom turned to her, wearing an identical grin.

"Sorry I was so forward in there," Dom apologized quickly.

"No, don't worry about it - I'm glad that you were! I am sorry for yelling at you, and showing you up in front of everyone," Sarah said sheepishly.

There was an awkward silence, and Dom, a blush creeping around his face, asked her the question he had been rehearsing to himself for the past few days.

"Erm, I was wondering - will you go out with me?"

Sarah smiled uncontrollably.

"I would love to."

Dom grinned. He raised his hand, tenderly brushing some loose strands of hair behind Sarah's ear, sending a shiver down her spine. He leaned forward slowly, and kissed her again.

Over the next few days, Dom and Sarah were inseparable, as were James and Lily, who were completely fine again, and were spending as much time together as possible. The only person who seemed a little out of the picture, was Carmen.

One Sunday morning after breakfast, there was a crowd of people around the notice board. On the board was a sign informing everyone that there was to be a Christmas ball before the end of term.

Carmen sighed. Who could she go with? She took off early, ahead of her friends, to roam around the corridors in hope of "accidentally" bumping into the Ravenclaw boy.

She was rushing around a corner when she bumped into a seventh year boy. She looked up hopefully, to find herself face to face with a quiet looking Gryffindor. He blushed and smiled. She didn't notice though and continued to walk on without giving the boy a second look. The boy watched her go dejectedly.

Having had no luck five minutes later, Carmen sighed, and walked back to the Great Hall to hang out with her friends. Just when she was approaching the door, the Ravenclaw boy came out alone. Carmen gasped.

"Hello," he said charmingly. Carmen felt herself redden uncontrollably.

"Hi," she squeaked with a rather high pitched voice that was not her own.

"You're Carmen, right?"

i How did he know my name/i Carmen wondered.

"Erm, yes, I am," she said uncertainly.

"I'm Greg Jones. Wow."

"What?"

"Well, it's just you have such beautiful eyes."

Carmen smiled bashfully, and turned very red.

"That's so sweet!" Carmen said, smiling widely.

"Would you like to go to the Christmas ball with me, Carmen?" Greg asked, saying her name huskily, which made Carmen simply melt.

"That would be nice."

"See you later, Carmen," Greg said, turning and walking away.

"Bye," she replied, grinning.

Carmen screamed into her hands gleefully, and ran to tell Lily and Sarah everything.

"He asked you out?"

"Yes!"

"- And you've just met him?"

"Yes!"

"- And you said yes?"

"Yes!"

Lily and Sarah exchanged worried glances.

"Fine, don't get too excited then," Carmen muttered sarcastically.

"It's just that you don't even know him - he could be really horrible," Lily explained.

"Why would he be horrible? He is so hot!"

"Just because he's 'hot', doesn't mean he can't be horrible," Lily warned.

Carmen glared at Lily.

"You can't stand anybody else being happy, can you? You're getting all jealous because I've found someone who's better looking than your boyfriend," Carmen retaliated snappily.

Lily blinked.

"What?" she asked in disbelief.

"That's right; you don't want to be outshined by me!"

"How can you have known me for seven years, and be able to say that?" Lily asked, looking hurt.

"Quite easily, you always have to have the best, don't you? Well, you're not this time!" Carmen shouted tearfully, running from the room.

Sarah and Lily stared at each other, utterly confused.

The next day, Carmen avoided Lily at all costs. Neither Lily nor Sarah could understand what had gotten into their best friend.

They were finishing dinner when they noticed Carmen march out of the hall linking arms with Greg.

Sarah and Lily decided to follow her. They tiptoed behind the couple as Carmen and Greg walked to a deserted corridor.

Lily and Sarah stayed behind the door. Greg pushed Carmen against the wall and started kissing her roughly. Carmen tried pushing him away, but he just kissed harder.

Sarah and Lily heard their friend's struggles, and both came into sight, pulling Greg to one side.

"May we help you?" Greg asked rudely.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lily yelled angrily to him.

Carmen looked flustered and annoyed.

"We were just kissing. Everything's fine," she lied.

"Well it didn't sound like it," Lily said anxiously.

"Just leave," Carmen ordered.

"But Carmen, we heard —" Sarah began.

"Well are you hearing Carmen? She told you to leave, so shove off will you?" Greg said, taking a step towards them threateningly.

Sarah and Lily sighed and left the corridor. Greg tried to push Carmen into the wall again but Carmen resisted.

"Please don't do that, you're going too fast," Carmen begged.

"Oh come on Carmen, it's just kissing," Greg said, looking at her pityingly. Carmen felt a bit stupid.

"It's just - you're doing it a bit roughly."

Greg sighed loudly.

"Fine, fine I won't be as rough with you. I just thought you liked the excitement."

"I do like excitement," Carmen insisted, not wanting to seem dull.

"Well then, what's the problem?"

Greg began kissing her again. Carmen could barely breathe.

_Oh my — it feels like I'm being attacked. Why is he being so forceful? I didn't think he was that kind of person. _

_**Maybe you were wrong**. _

_No, I'm not, I can't be. _

_**Perhaps Lily was right. **_

_No. She wasn't right. I'll show her._

_**You don't have to do this…** _

_Yes, I do. Otherwise, I won't have a boyfriend, and I won't have anyone to go to the ball with. _

Carmen kissed back determinedly, knowing that she just had to prove Lily wrong.

_What could be so bad? I have a boyfriend, that's the main thing. As long as I have a boyfriend, I will be fine._

At least, that's what she thought.


	7. Makeups and Breakups

The Christmas ball was looming closer. It had become the job of the Head Girl and Boy to plan it, so James and Lily had been working hard at making it a night to remember.

"You know, I'm surprised you're concentrating so hard on this. I really thought you wouldn't be too keen on doing it," Lily stated the afternoon before the ball, as she and James finished the final touches to the Great Hall.

James smiled. "Well, sometimes I just like to surprise you, Lily. Can't have you going out with someone predictable now, can we?" he replied. Lily laughed.

The two of them had spent the entire day decorating the Great Hall with help from a few of the teachers. The room looked spectacular.

As soon as you stepped through the doors, you could see the usual enormous Christmas tree with the glittering star at the very top, and the amazing tinsel hanging off the branches. There was a huge dance floor at one end of the Hall, and there were tables and a place to get food and drink. Around the table, there were festive candles flickering away, as they floated peacefully in the air. Beautiful table decorations of magical holly and mistletoe were laid out, thanks to Professor Sprout

"I think our job here is done," Lily said proudly as she took a step back and looked around at what they had achieved.

"I'd say so too. May I escort you to the Common Room, Miss Evans?" James asked, putting on posh voice and sticking his nose in the air.

Lily giggled to herself. James could always make her laugh, no matter what.

"Why thank you, Mr. Potter, that would be greatly appreciated," Lily acknowledged, taking hold of his outstretched arm.

The couple walked out of the hall and to the deserted common room to rest after their hard day's work.

"So who are you planning on going to this ball with then?" James asked with a gleam in his eyes.

"Oh, no one special," Lily teased. She sat down, as James pouted. Lily giggled at him.

"You're no fun!" he whined, folding his arms as if he was a grumpy four year old.

"Okay, fine. To start with, he's very charming," she began.

"Is he?"

"Oh, yes. He's handsome."

"Of course."

"He makes me laugh."

"Sirius always said humor was the way to a girl's heart."

"— And he looks terribly cute when he falls asleep on the couch in the common room."

"Hey — I did that one time, and I was exhausted that day!" James interrupted, looking embarrassed. Lily chuckled uncontrollably, kissing him on the cheek.

"Well, what about you?" Lily questioned, looking up at him. James looked into her eyes.

"The girl I'm going with is very intelligent."

"Yes?"

"She's very funny."

"Is that so?"

"She has the most amazing eyes."

Lily chewed her lip, trying not to smile. James smiled softly and lovingly brushed her red curls away from her face. His hand lingered on her cheek for a moment.

"— And she is so beautiful, that every time I look at her, I never want to take my eyes away."

Lily stared at James. She knew by the look on his face, that he was being completely serious with her. She had never heard anyone say anything so wonderful to her in her life, and she never expected James to say something meaningful like that to her. She was so mesmerised by his words that she just stood there, staring.

"That was so beautiful, James," she said quietly, standing up. He blushed and shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

Suddenly, Lily threw her arms around his neck, kissing him intensely. Her force pushed him down onto the couch, and he rolled over so that he was on top of her. She kissed him furiously, and he responded with enthusiasm. James' hands began wandering down her body, his fingers setting her skin ablaze. She couldn't think. Her entire body was on fire. She was vaguely aware of his warm hands roaming slowly up the bottom of her shirt, and realised absentmindedly that he was the first person she had ever let do that before. She began to feel herself melting beneath him, blissful shivers running down her spine. She continued to kiss him, as she ran her own hands from his hair down his sides, and she saw goose bumps rise on his neck. A noise aroused them, however, and James abruptly pulled his lips away from Lily's when the portrait door opened and Sarah walked in casually. Lily and James sat up, hastily straightening their clothes.

Sarah stared, wide-eyed. "Oh! Um, I was about to, uh, go anyway, I'll leave you to, erm -" she stuttered, turning away.

"No, don't worry, we were just, um, finishing anyway," Lily insisted, breathlessly, doing up the top buttons on her shirt, wondering distractedly as to how they had come undone in the first place. James looked disappointed. Lily looked meaningfully at him as if to say "We'll pick this up later", causing James to perk up again.

"Well, if you're sure. Oh, Lils we need to start getting ready in about an hour for the ball," Sarah said, a blush still visible on her cheeks.

"You have hours, though; you're not going to need all that time!" James said incredulously.

"That's what boys think. Us girls know different. Come on, Lils, let's see if we can get Carmen to come round." Sarah laughed, pulling Lily away from James.

"See you later." Lily blew him a kiss. They disappeared out the common room, and James sat alone in the couch.

He sighed happily. He grinned, thinking longingly about Lily.

Carmen was spending as much time away from Greg as possible. She was sitting in the library, looking out of the window unhappily. A Gryffindor seventh year boy came up to her.

"Are you alright?" He asked anxiously.

Carmen looked at him. He was very tall, and he had curly brown hair and very blue eyes.

"I'm alright, I suppose," she said slowly.

He sat down next to her and held out his hand.

"I'm William, and you are?"

"I'm Carmen," she replied shaking his hand.

"Hey, you're the boy I bumped into the other day, aren't you?" she said, smiling in recognition.

"Yes. I've seen you around a lot lately, and you always seem to look so... sad, and I was wondering if there was anything I could do," he said.

_How nice of him. He doesn't even know me and he's still wondering if I'm all right! Hang on; there must be some kind of catch._

"Why are you doing this? You don't even know me," Carmen said, becoming suddenly suspicious.

"I don't know. It's just at the beginning of term, every time I saw you, someone was laughing at your jokes, or you were laughing at something. I really just wanted to get to know you because you seemed so... nice," he explained, reddening slightly.

"Oh, that's sweet of you." Carmen smiled at the boy. "Well I don't see why we can't be friends. It's not like I have anyone else at the moment."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, it's nothing really, I —"

"Nothing? Really?"

Before Carmen knew what she was doing, she was spilling out all her worries and thoughts to William, and everything that had happened recently with Lily and her awful relationship with Greg. By the end of it, she was sobbing into his jumper, and feeling very sorry for herself. William comforted her, letting his sweater soak her tears.

"Thank you for being so kind," Carmen said, wiping her eyes.

"Don't mention it, Carmen. It's okay to cry sometimes, even if it does mean drowning my jumper!" he said, patting her sympathetically. "You know, I think you should just talk to Lily. You didn't mean what you said, and Lily was only looking out for you."

"I know, you're right. I'm so glad I met you, William!" She gave him a friendly hug, thanked him and rushed out of the library to find Lily.

Lily and Sarah were on their way down the corridor to the library in search of Carmen, when the girl suddenly came bounding out of nowhere. They stopped and stared at each other. Carmen was the first to speak.

"I am so sorry, Lily, I never meant all those things I said, and you were right about Greg, he's bad news."

Lily smiled and gave her friend a big hug.

"Don't worry yourself, Carma. I know you didn't mean it."

"So have you ditched Greg?" Sarah asked.

Carmen shook her head.

"No? But you said he was bad news!" Sarah exclaimed, confused.

"He is, but I need someone to go to the ball with. I'll break up with him tomorrow. I can last one more day with him," Carmen decided.

Lily and Sarah reluctantly agreed with her, silently hoping he wouldn't do anything terrible to their friend.

It was an hour before the Christmas Ball, and Lily, Carmen, and Sarah were all busily getting ready in the girl's dormitory.

Sarah was wearing a flowing lilac dress that was strapped, and it came just above her knees.

Carmen had put on a halter neck dress of deep red that blended well with her dark hair.

Lily was dressed in a green dress which was made with glistening material that shone beautifully when it caught the light.

The girls were giggling childishly with each other when Sarah noticed an owl pecking at the small window.

"Look, there's an owl at the window!"

Sarah let it in, and it flew over to Lily. Lily, looking bemused, took the note it was carrying, and she opened it.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

Meet me in the Common Room at 8:00 P.M. Try not to look too beautiful or else I may not be able to keep my hands off you — I find it hard enough as it is!

Yours,

James Potter xxxxxxx

Sarah and Carmen read the note over Lily's shoulder. They both had let out little squeals by the end of the letter. Lily couldn't stop smiling. She was amazed at how different James had become in just a year.

"Too right he finds it hard to keep his hands off you; his hands were definitely roaming places when I saw you guys this afternoon!" Sarah laughed. Lily blushed.

"Excuse me?" Carmen said her eyes widening.

"I caught our Lils making out with James rather heavily in the common room earlier today."

Carmen giggled hysterically.

"It wasn't that heavy," Lily started.

"Um, hello! If I hadn't walked in, heaven knows what you two would have done!"

"Lily!" Carmen said, surprised at her friend.

"She's exaggerating," Lily said, looking away.

Truth was, Lily thought Sarah was right, if she hadn't interrupted, they probably would have gone a lot further, reminding her that she really needed to be careful.

"Okay. Right then, let's get to it, we have under an hour to do our hair — let's go, let's go!" Carmen exclaimed excitedly.

James, Remus and Dominic were waiting silently in the Gryffindor common room for their dates to come and meet them. Sirius and Peter were already in the Great Hall, as their dates were from different houses.

Remus' date, Lauren White, a studious girl with long blond hair and blue eyes came into the room wearing a black strapped dress. Remus smiled at her. He took her arm, waved goodbye to James and Dom, and walked out of the portrait hole, laughing and talking with Lauren.

James and Dom were both rather nervous, which was an unusual circumstance, as both boys were usually confident and sometimes were a bit cocky. Suddenly, they looked up as they heard footsteps, and Lily, Sarah and Carmen walked into the room.

Dom stared at Sarah. She was a picture, even with her pinkness due to nerves, she broke into an attractive smile the moment she saw Dom. Dominic was unable to speak for a minute. Sarah kissed him on the cheek, bringing him back to his senses. He snuck his arm around her waist.

"You look so beautiful, Sarah."

Sarah blushed prettily. She smiled widely and the two of them went out to the ball. Carmen followed, planning to meet Greg there.

As Lily walked slowly towards James with a shy smile upon her face, he gulped. He subconsciously took a sharp intake of breath as she stood beside him, waiting for his reaction. He just stared, gaping. As Sarah had done, Lily kissed James to awaken him from his daze. He blinked and let out his breath.

"I told you not to look too beautiful, how do you expect me to keep my hands off you now?" James whispered in her ear, causing shivers to run down her neck. She smiled softly.

"Well you'll just have to try, I'm afraid," she replied, kissing him tantalisingly, entwining her fingers with his. He whined as she led him out into the corridor laughing.

The ball was magnificent. It was dark, and the only sources of light were the floating candles and some enchanted glowing disco balls, which gave it a perfect magical feel.

There were happy couples dancing, eating, drinking and laughing together. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Severus Snape, however, was not one of these people. He was alone, feeling annoyed, especially with James Potter.

Snape had had a most unfortunate day. Someone had managed to cast a spell on him while his back was turned, causing the back of his robes to read in bold white letters "McGonagall is the sexiest female in Hogwarts" which resulted in a week's worth of detentions from Professor McGonagall and an awful lot of teasing from the people in his class. James and Sirius had found it particularly amusing and had been sitting behind Snape, laughing non-stop throughout the entire Transfiguration lesson.

Snape was so sure it had been James to pull the prank, so he was planning to get his revenge. What he didn't know, was that it was in fact Peter Pettigrew who had cast the spell, and the boy wasn't about to own up any time soon. Snape, completely oblivious to the true culprit, was getting ready to settle the score. He had been thinking about it since lunch, and had come up with a devious plan.

_I know just how to get to Potter this time. That stupid git won't mess with me again! I just need to find him — and his drink…_ Snape smirked to himself, getting up and disappearing into the crowd in search of James.

Carmen was another person who happened to not be enjoying the ball. She had spent the majority of the time trapped between Greg and the wall, being kissed furiously. However much she tried to free herself from his clutches, his grip on her was just too strong. She kept her eye on the clock the entire time, wishing desperately for time to fly by and for the ball to be over, but unfortunately, time happened to be going very slowly.

"Hey babe, come out of the hall for a bit, yeah?" Greg pulled a reluctant Carmen out of the Great Hall.

As soon as the door closed behind them, and they had gone to a secluded part of the corridor, Greg threw Carmen against the wall and kissed her again, running his hands all over her body, and towards the back of her dress. Carmen's eyes grew wide in horror as she realised what Greg was trying to do. She slapped his hands away, but that just made him annoyed.

"Why being such a square all of a sudden?" Greg said, looking pityingly at Carmen.

"I don't want to do that," Carmen said determinedly, pushing away from him. Greg pulled her back.

"Excuse me?"

"I said I don't want to do that, now let go of me!" Carmen cried, tugging frantically at his hands, but they stayed holding onto her arms.

"Oh, I don't think so," Greg said, leaning down to kiss her again.

This time Carmen was ready for it and slapped him hard around the face. Greg stumbled backwards, stunned.

"You frigid bitch! You know what? I don't need this, and I definitely don't need a stupid little girl like you!" With that,he stormed back into the Great Hall.

Carmen leaned back against the wall, breathing shakily and blinking back tears. The door suddenly burst open again, and William came out, a worried expression on his face.

"Carmen! I just saw Greg, and he looked really — hey, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing; I'm fine," she replied, looking away.

"What did he do to you? Did he hurt you?"

Carmen burst into tears and dropped down to the floor.

"I'm so stupid! Why do I have to be so stubborn? I should have known he would be just as forceful today as he was yesterday — I am so, so stupid!" she wept.

William wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No, he was trying to undo my dress, and I said I didn't want him to, but he got all annoyed - but everything's okay now. He dumped me."

William looked a little relieved but angry nevertheless.

He sat there, holding her in his arms until she calmed down.

"I always manage to keep you from staying dry don't I." Carmen laughed weakly.

"Well hey, at least I shouldn't catch on fire now, unless tears are flammable." He smiled, taking her back into the ball. She sighed, rolling her eyes at his bad joke, and put her arm around him.

Lily and James were having a wonderful time. They had laughed and chatted their way through most of the ball. James had been working up the courage to ask Lily to dance, but was having trouble finding the words.

"Lily would you like to, erm — uh, like to, go and get drinks?" he finished off lamely. Lily looked a little disappointed, but smiled and got up with him nevertheless.

Snape was watching them avidly, waiting for the right moment before he put his plan into action. James and Lily sat back down with their beverages. James finally decided to take the plunge.

"Lily, would you like to dance?" Lily blinked, and grinned.

"Okay," she nodded, her eyes shining, "hang on though," and she took a long gulp from her drink, before standing up.

"Now I'm ready," Lily said. James grinned and they walked over to the dance floor.

Snape smiled evilly, and went over to where they had been sitting. He took out a small bottle from his dress robes, unscrewed the lid, and poured a little amount of crimson liquid into James' drink.

"That ought to keep him from messing with me again anytime soon," Snape sniggered to himself.

Once they reached the dance floor, James slid his hands around Lily's waist, and Lily rested hers on his shoulders. They began to sway with the slow music. James was trying his utmost best not to get too carried away with his hands, and was keeping them in a respectable place. Lily smiled to herself as she realised that James was making an effort to be a gentleman. Lily decided to have a little fun with this. She moved herself closer to his body, pressing up against him, and rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her hands around his neck and breathing softly into his ear. She laughed to herself as she saw goose bumps run down his neck, and his breath became shallower.

"Bloody hell Lily, are you trying to kill me?" James whispered huskily in her ear, causing shivers to run down her neck in return.

"Not intentionally," she whispered, looking up at him innocently.

"I find that hard to believe," James said, growling at her mischievously. Lily giggled, gave him a lingering kiss and rested her forehead against his while they swayed to the music.

Once the song finished, they sat back down in their seats. Lily picked up James' full goblet of butterbeer.

"Hey! That's mine!" James whined.

"Yes, but mine's nearly all gone, and you couldn't possibly let me have a drink which is almost all gone," Lily replied laughing, taking a long gulp from James' drink.

James rolled his eyes, smiling, and drained Lily's goblet of pumpkin juice.

Lily put down the goblet and grimaced. "Yuck, that was disgusting!" she said, making a face at the empty goblet.

"You don't like butterbeer?"

"Well usually, yes, but that tasted very bitter," Lily said.

James frowned in confusion, but he just shrugged it off. "You want to dance again?" he asked, standing up and holding his hand out to her.

"Absolutely," Lily agreed, taking James' hand.

They walked to the dance floor. But all of a sudden, Lily stopped walking.

James looked at her, puzzled. "What's wrong, Lily?"

Lily didn't answer; she had turned pale and was shaking slightly.

"Lils, say something! What's wrong? Lily?" James said worriedly.

Lily's head lolled forward and she collapsed into James' arms, her body shaking uncontrollably. James, terrified, picked her up, and he rushed to the Hospital Wing. People looked at him as he hurried out of the Great Hall, trying to work out what was wrong. Everyone stared, totally bemused, including Severus Snape.


	8. All's Well that Ends the Term Well

_I made a slight change to the ending of the previous chapter, as it didn't tie up with what was going to happen next. Anyway, enjoy!!_

All's Well that Ends the Term Well

Once the door closed after James and Lily, the room stared after them, anxious and worried. A buzz of chatter began, drowning out the music of the band that had been hired for the occasion.

"What's happened?"

"Do you think Lily's alright?"

"What's wrong with that Evans girl?"

Everyone was confused as to what had happened to Lily. However, no one was as confused, or worried, as Severus Snape.

_What the hell? All I did was put in a head enlargement potion – that wasn't supposed to happen… it wasn't even supposed to be for her, it was for Potter…_

Meanwhile Carmen and William had just entered the Great Hall and, noticing the panicked atmosphere, looked at each other curiously.

"What do you think has happened – has Dumbledore made some kind of announcement?" Carmen wondered aloud.

"Beats me. Oh, look, your friend Sarah's coming over – ask her," William replied.

Sarah rushed towards William and Carmen, Dom hurrying after her.

"Carmen! Have you heard?"

Carmen frowned, "heard what? What's going on?"

"Something's happened to Lily. No one knows what, though. We just saw James carrying her out of the Great Hall – she was white and shaking," Dom explained.

Carmen's eyes widened in shock, fear flooding through her.

"Oh my… well, let's go to the Hospital Wing and see if she's alright!"

Carmen grabbed Sarah and they ran out of the Great Hall in the direction of the Hospital Wing.

Sarah and Carmen burst into the Hospital Wing and, seeing James and Madam Pomfrey leaning over one of the beds, rushed over, to find a pale Lily, lying, asleep.

"Excuse me ladies, I really don't think charging in here like that is appropriate! This is a Hospital Wing, not a Common Room," said Madam Pomfrey, frowning sternly at the girls.

"Sorry, Madam Pomfrey, we just needed to see Lily, is she okay?" Sarah said.

Madam Pomfrey's look softened.

"Yes, I believe she will be as right as rain in a couple of days, although I'm not entirely sure what caused this – I assumed an allergic reaction, so I just gave her an antidote, and the symptoms seemed to go away. Was she drinking or eating anything, Mr Potter?"

"She just had some pumpkin juice. Oh, and butterbeer, well, she had some of mine, but she's not allergic to it," James replied quietly, his face pale.

"Then I have no idea. The only thing I know her to be allergic to, is liquid from an Augeo plant, after an incident with one during Herbology. So unless someone put something in her drink, she must have developed an allergy to –"

"Wait," Carmen interrupted, "It's just a thought, but Snape did seem to be giving you pretty dark looks all day yesterday –"

"You mean more than usual?" James rolled his eyes.

"Yes," Carmen said. "I think it may have had something to do with that Transfiguration lesson, with the words on his back."

"Why would he be annoyed with me? It was Peter who did that," James frowned.

"He didn't know that though, did he? And you were right behind him at the time," Sarah pointed out.

Madam Pomfrey sighed, and walked to the door.

"I shall call Mr Snape to Professor Dumbledore's office, and see his side to the story, assuming it was him who did this," she said firmly. "He will want to see you too, Mr Potter," she added, before walking briskly out of the door.

James sat down silently beside Lily and took her hand in his. Carmen and Sarah stood awkwardly next to him, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry, grab some chairs if you want," James said, pointing to a couple of chairs at the next bed.

Pulling up the chairs, the girls sat down and stared at Lily.

William came through the door, breaking the silence.

"Hey, what's happening? He asked, walking over to Carmen and giving her a hug.

"We think Snape spiked James' drink, which Lily then drank," Carmen said.

"Blimey, but what did he spike it with to get a reaction like that?"

"No idea, but I don't think Snape really wanted to hurt James. She must have just had an allergic reaction to the thing he put in," Sarah reasoned.

He nodded. He looked over at James, who hadn't spoken since he had come in.

"You alright? You're James, right?" He asked.

James looked up at him, and nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine – William, is it?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure, James, you're looking a bit pale," Sarah turned her gaze to him.

"Look, I'm fine. I'm just worried about her, okay?" James said, glaring at them all, silencing the room once again.

Madam Pomfrey appeared at the door again. 

"Mr Potter, Dumbledore wants you in his office now, please."

Taking one last look at Lily, he got up and left without a word.

Madam Pomfrey led James into Dumbledore's office, where Snape was sitting, alone.

"Professor Dumbledore will be here momentarily, so just wait here quietly for him," Madam Pomfrey said.

She left, shutting the door behind her. James looked at Snape.

"So, was it you?" James asked calmly, trying not to flip out.

"Yes it was me who gave her the potion, but -" Snape began.

"What? Why - why did you do this to her?" cried James, moving dangerously towards Snape.

Snape glared at James, getting up from his seat. "It wasn't supposed to be for her it was -"Snape started.

"Excuse me, I think you should both take a seat," interrupted Dumbledore, who had come into the room and shut the door.

Conjuring a chair, Dumbledore gestured for James to sit.

"Mr Potter, since you are involved in this fiasco, and incidentally, I believe, close to Miss Evans, I felt it necessary for you to come and hear Mr Snape's side of the matter yourself. Now, Mr Snape, did you put anything in Lily's drink?"

"I didn't put anything in Evans' drink, but I did put a head enlargement potion in Potter's, she must have drunk it by accident," Snape explained somewhat grudgingly, his sinister stare sitting persistently on James.

Dumbledore's expression did not falter. James', however, darkened considerably.

"That confirms my suspicions, as I believe that particular potion contains Augeo liquid which Miss Evans is allergic to," Dumbledore stated, talking mainly to himself.

"May I ask why you did this?" he asked calmly.

"To get him back for a prank he pulled on me in Trans–"

"That wasn't me!" James exploded. "Just because me and Sirius were sitting behind you, doesn't mean it had anything to do with us."

Snape's look clearly showed that he didn't believe a word of what James was saying. James ignored this and looked at Dumbledore, waiting for his reaction. Dumbledore seemed to be working things out in his head, as he didn't say a word for several long moments, until he sat up and turned his gaze to Snape.

"Mr Snape, due to the fact that you put a head enlargement potion in Mr Potter's drink, which, I believe, is on the list of banned items Mr Filch has in his office, I am giving you detention with me every Saturday at 8:00pm until Easter - do I make myself clear?" Dumbledore stated simply.

"Yes, Sir."

"Very well, you may both leave and join the rest of the school at the Christmas Ball, which, I may just like to add, you and Miss Evans did a splendid job on, Mr Potter," Dumbledore smiled, standing up and opening the door for the boys to leave.

James nodded and said goodnight, rushing out of the office before Snape could say anything to him, or, before he himself lost control and punched Snape's face in.

A couple of days passed, and it was the last morning of term. Everyone was either packing to go home for the Christmas holidays, or getting ready to celebrate the holidays at school. There was cheerful atmosphere buzzing round the school, and everyone, even those worried about Lily Evans were happily looking forward to relaxing.

James entered the boys' dormitory to finish off the rest of his packing, after spending some time in the Hospital Wing with Lily. Remus and Sirius were there, packing up their belongings too.

"Hey Prongs – how's Evans doing? Has the swelling gone down yet?" Sirius asked, a slight smirk threatening to form on his face.

"I know you want to laugh Padfoot," James said, smiling faintly. "Yes, her head's basically normal size now, and all the other symptoms have gone away completely. She's ready to come out now, so I think Carmen and Sarah ware going to help her with packing and stuff."

The others nodded. James couldn't help noticing that Peter was absent, again.

_Where is Wormtail these days? Probably avoiding me, seeing as it was his fault that Snape wanted to get me back in the first place…_

Wanting to voice his curiosity, he asked his friends anyway.

"No idea. He's acting so weird lately, and rarely hangs out with us any more," Remus answered.

"He's probably avoiding you," Sirius added, tossing a few battered looking dung bombs into James' trunk.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Oh well, anyway, Moony, you going to drop in at mine during the holidays to hang out with me and Padfoot?" James asked, chucking the dung bombs back into Sirius' trunk.

"Yeah, that would be great," Remus said, grinning.

"Cool. I think I might ask the girls if they want to come for a couple of days too – that way I can see Lily," James said.

"If you want to see Lily, why don't you just invite her round?" Sirius frowned.

"Well, she might think I'm inviting her on her own just so we can… you know," James trailed off, signifying the rest of the sentence with a jerk of his head, his face reddening slightly.

Sirius wolf whistled. James rolled his eyes, chucking a dung bomb at him. Sirius chucked it back.

"Oi – do you want it to go off?" Remus warned, laughing.

Sirius' expression changed dramatically, "good point," he said, and placed it in James' trunk again while his back was turned.

Down in the Great Hall, Carmen and Sarah were having breakfast.

"So, you've been hanging out with this William a lot, are you two going out?" Sarah asked.

Carmen laughed.

"No! We're just friends. It's crazy – I only properly met him recently, but we've become good friends so quickly. We just clicked, you know?" she said, pouring milk on her cornflakes.

"That's great, he seems lovely. So, are you looking forward to the holidays?"

Carmen grimaced.

"Yeah, I guess. I just get a bit fed up after hearing my parents constantly praising Dominic," she said.

"They must talk about you too," Sarah said rationally.

Carmen snorted bitterly, putting down her spoon with a loud clang.

"Oh yeah, my name comes up alright – 'it's a shame Carmen doesn't have the same care for her studies as Dominic'" Carmen mimicked, putting on a squeaky voice.

"I take it that's you mother."

Carmen nodded, going back to her cornflakes.

"My Dad isn't as bad, he takes more notice of me than Mum does, but still, it gets to me sometimes."

Sarah looked at Carmen sadly. Even though they had been best friends for almost seven years, Carmen had rarely talked about her family.

_I've never noticed her parents to be like that when Lily and I have been round. Well, I guess most parents put on a bit of a front when guests are there…_

Her thoughts were distracted when Lily joined them at the table.

"Lily! Great, you're here!" Carmen squealed, jumping up and hugging her gleefully, accidentally knocking into someone.

"Oh, sorry," she apologised distractedly to the boy she knocked into.

"Carmen," he said. "It's me."

Carmen looked round. It was William.

"Oh, sorry Will! I didn't notice it was you – look, Lily's better!" she said, grinning happily.

He smiled and welcomed her back. Sarah watched as he took a seat further down the table, next to Dom. Carmen didn't seem to notice the crestfallen look on his face. Sarah frowned slightly, but decided to ignore it and turned to Lily and Carmen.

"Oh, before I forget, James wondered if the three of us wanted to stay at his place for a couple of days during the Christmas holidays," Lily said, grabbing some toast and jam.

The girls looked at each other and grinned.

"Yeah, that would be really good!" They smiled.

James, Remus and Sirius came up to the table and greeted them.

James kissed lily and sat down beside her, leaning over to take some toast. Remus sat next to him, poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice, and began looking at the Daily Prophet.

"How are you sexy ladies?" Sirius asked sitting next to Carmen and tickling her waist.

"Sirius!" Carmen moaned, squirming.

Sarah saw William scowl at Sirius out of the corner of her eye.

Okay, it's official, he definitely fancies Carmen. It's such a shame she doesn't like him back – they're perfect for each other…

She sighed, but all thoughts of William and Carmen were pushed to the back of mind as she watched Sirius greedily wolf down three pieces of toast at once, to great applause from Remus and James, and to the girls' disgust.

The day flew by, everyone who was going home travelled to Hogsmeade train station and boarded the train, and before anyone knew it, they were pulling up at Kings Cross, platform 9 ¾.

"Wow, are we here?" Sarah wondered.

"Yep," Carmen answered, pulling her luggage from the rack and opening the compartment door.

She bumped into someone on her way out.

"Oh, hey Carmen. You looking forward to Christmas?"

It was a Hufflepuff boy she knew named Phillip.

"Phil, hi! I haven't spoken to you in ages! Yeah I am actually, I am sick of studying," she replied, smiling.

"I agree. I know we haven't hung out for so long – tell you what, send me an owl and we'll get together - catch up. Maybe go out somewhere, yeah?" he said, and wrote down his address on a piece of ripped parchment from his pocket.

Handing it to her, he waved goodbye and got off the train. Carmen grinned, stuffed the piece of parchment in her trouser pocket, and followed her friends off the Hogwarts Express.

Dom and Carmen greeted their parents with hugs. Dom ran back to say goodbye to Sarah.

"I've been invited to James' house during the holidays, and Carmen tells me you have too, so I'll see you there, yeah? I'll miss you," Dom said, and leaned down for a lingering kiss, and hugged her.

Waving, he turned away, back to his parents. Carmen came after him, flying into her with a ferocious hug.

"I still find it weird that you have to say goodbye to my brother like that!" she said, laughing. Sarah grinned and pulled away.

"I saw Phil give you his address – are you going to go out with him?" she questioned casually.

"I think so," Carmen replied, smiling.

"That's great, Carma. Just don't rule out all your possibilities," she added, trying not to give anything away.

"What do you mean?" Carmen asked, glancing at her suspiciously.

"Nothing. Let's say bye to Lily – IF we can drag her away from lover-boy," she said, rolling her eyes.

It was true, Lily and James seemed to be glued together, whispering goodbye to each other between kisses.

"Okay, I really have to go now, James!" Lily said, pulling away from James.

Ignoring her, he leaned in for another long kiss.

"James!" Look, I'm going now!"

"Fine! Just one more kiss, yeah?" he said, grinning.

Lily smiled and nodded. James leaned towards her slowly and brushed a strand of red hair out of her face. He was determined to take his time over this one. He kissed her gently, lifting her off the ground slightly. She began to lose herself in his touch when Carmen bounded into her, breaking the two of them apart.

"Oh, so sorry Lils! Just thought we'd say goodbye, seeing as it's the last day of term and all, but obviously you have better things to do," Carmen said, looking pointedly at James, who raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry, Carma."

She turned to James.

"I'll see you in a few days, but I'll miss you loads," she said, surprising herself. She hadn't realised just how much she would miss him.

"I'll miss you more, though," he grinned, and, kissing her forehead, he left to say goodbye to Remus and to meet his parents and Sirius, who were waiting patiently (well, except Sirius) for him.

Carmen and Sarah engulfed her with a big hug, which she returned cheerfully.

"I'll miss you guys! But we'll see each other in a few days," Sarah said.

"I've got to go and say bye to William, so I'll see you soon!" Carmen said, and rushed off.

William heard his name and looked round to find Carmen running towards him. She hugged him. He closed his eyes and took in the sweet smell of her hair. She pulled away from him, snapping him out of his daze.

"I will miss you, Will – have a good Christmas, don't eat too much, yeah?" she said, chuckling. He laughed.

"Sure thing. I'll miss you too. I have something for you," He reached in his pocket, and gave her a small wrapped up box.

"Don't open it until Christmas Day, okay?" he said, smiling.

He squeezed her hand, and headed towards his family.

I hadn't thought to get William something. It's not like I've known him that long… Oh well, he didn't seem to mind I suppose.

And, stuffing the box into her pocket, she rushed off to find her parents and brother, so she could go home and finally relax.


	9. An Eventful Holiday Season part 1

**An Eventful Holiday Season (part one)**

It was the day after Boxing Day, and was surprisingly warm. The sun peeped through the clouds, shining down, melting any snow that had settled the week before. James, Sirius and Remus were waiting at James' house for their friends to arrive.

Sirius had spent the entire Christmas holidays at the Potters', as he was no longer welcome at his own home. Remus had spent the majority of the holidays at his own house, but had come to James' to spend the rest of the time there with his friends. Peter had only been in touch with them once, to say that he had gone abroad for the Christmas holidays.

Sirius was fidgeting restlessly.

"What's taking them all so long? Are they coming by Floo Powder?" he groaned.

"Shut up moaning, Sirius, they'll be here," Remus said.

"And yes, they're coming by Floo Powder," James added.

Suddenly there was a whoosh of green flames in the fireplace, and William stumbled out of the fire.

"Hey guys!" He grinned, dusting himself off. "It was good of you to invite me here – we don't know each other all that well."

"Well, you're a laugh, and you and Carmen –"

But Sirius was interrupted, as the fireplace became green once again, and Dominic appeared, followed by, a few seconds later, Carmen, who tripped and fell on the floor.

"Will!" she said, surprised, as she looked up at him. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

William laughed and helped her up off the floor, wiping some soot off her shoulders.

"Well, James asked me just after we said goodbye, so, here I am!"

"I didn't know you guys were good friends," Carmen said, putting her overnight bag on the floor.

"Well, we're not really, but since you two are going out, I thought we should get to know each other," James explained, taking everyone's stuff and putting it into a spare room near the fireplace.

William and Carmen immediately stared at each other. William flushed, and looked embarrassed, while Carmen laughed, her cheeks blushing faintly.

"William and I aren't going out! What would make you think that?"

James' eyes widened.

"Oh. Sorry, I just assumed –"he began.

"Good one," Remus and Sirius murmured.

He trailed off, and an awkward silence spread over them. Thankfully, it was broken, as Sarah emerged in the fireplace.

"Hey everyone," she said, putting her things down to kiss Dom and wave to everyone.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Everyone instantly began talking at once.

"Nothing!"

"I'll just put your stuff in here."

"So how was your Christmas?"

Sarah frowned slightly as she was bombarded with questions.

"Er, yeah, it was great, thanks."

"Why do I show you where you will all be sleeping, yeah? Okay," James said, quickly directing them up the stairs, sharing a worried glance with Remus.

* * *

All the guests were in their rooms, getting ready to enjoy the unusual warmth by going swimming in James' outdoor pool. James' mother and father had greeted everyone and insisted on showing them all around the house, much to James' embarrassment. The Potters' house was absolutely enormous, with three floors and almost too many bedrooms and bathrooms to count. The grounds were spectacular, containing a rather large magically heated swimming pool and enough space for a large game of quidditch.

Carmen sat on the edge of her bed in the room she had been allocated, pulling a top on over her swimsuit when she heard a tentative knock at her door.

"Come in."

William poked his head round the door, and smiled at her hesitantly.

"Hey. I thought I would come and apologise about before -"he said, smiling sheepishly.

"Hey, no, don't worry about it! Why should you apologise? Look, it was a bit awkward but it's fine. Right?" Carmen replied, looking at him for reassurance.

He nodded. She could have sworn she saw his smile falter somewhat, but brushed it off.

"So, you looking forward to swimming?" she asked him. A change of subject seemed necessary.

"Oh yeah, I love swimming," he said, his mood lifting.

"Great, I do too! Hey, do you know why Peter isn't here?" she said.

"Apparently he went abroad somewhere."

"Oh yes, I remember Remus telling me, I think he –"she stopped suddenly, looking at the window.

William followed the direction of her gaze, and saw a handsome looking owl perching on the outside windowsill, an envelope in its beak. Carmen got up and opened the window, taking the letter from its grasp. The bird hooted and took flight once again.

William watched as she opened the letter, as her eyes scanned the writing her face lit up, and her mouth spread into a grin.

"What is it?" William asked.

Carmen didn't respond. She seemed to have forgotten that anyone was in the room.

"Carmen?"

"What? Oh, it's a reply from my friend Phil, he wanted to know if I wanted to meet with him for lunch today, as he lives near James," she said without looking up.

"Oh. So, are you going to go?" He asked trying to act casual.

"Yes, of course! I've been looking forward to meeting up with him all holiday - he is so cute!" she said giggling, and rushed out of the room to find Sarah and Lily.

William sighed. He was about to walk out of the room when he noticed something poking out of her coat, which was hung on the door handle. Looking closer he saw it was the present he had bought her, still unopened. He looked away, dejected, and walked out of the room.

* * *

James and Lily were in the pool waiting for everyone to join them. They were very much enjoying each other's company, as they had not had any time alone since the Christmas Ball.

"You know what, you look so gorgeous in that little swimsuit thing," James mentioned, pulling Lily closer so he could wrap his arms around her.

"Really? Ah, well thanks. You know, you don't look half bad either. Actually, you look pretty good," she said, placing her arms on his shoulders and giving him a kiss.

"I missed you, while you were in the Hospital Wing and during the holidays," said James seriously.

"I missed you to. I'm glad everyone is taking so long getting ready."

James grinned. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and closed it again. Changing his mind again, he put his hand under Lily's chin and lifted her face so she was looking directly at him.

"I have something I've been wanting to tell you for a little while," said, looking at her nervously.

Lily noticed his anxious look and frowned.

"What? What is it? Is it bad?" she asked, getting worried.

"No! No, not at all!" he said, laughing. Lily smiled, relieved.

"Then, what is it?"

James took a deep breath, and looked straight into her eyes so she knew he was being completely serious.

"I love you."

Lily gaped at him, speechless. She didn't say a word, but merely blinked at him.

"Uh, please say something," said James, waiting for some sort of response.

"I-I, a-are you sure?" she whispered.

"Never been surer about anything."

"I uh, I-I," she stammered. "I don't know what to say."

James looked at her a little disappointedly. He had a feeling she wouldn't be able to say it back.

"Thank you would suffice," James smiled teasingly.

Lily chuckled.

"Yes, of course. Thank you, James. Nobody has ever said that to me, and it's the most amazing thing to hear – I just-I can't say it back," she replied honestly.

"I didn't think you would. I just wanted to tell you – I had to tell you really. I don't mind that you don't love me."

Lily gazed at him, a guilty expression on her face.

"It sounds so awful when you put it like that! I'm sorry, James," she said hugging him, thinking carefully. After a moment, she added, "Don't take it to mean I never will, though."

James looked up at her, surprised.

"Really?"

Lily kissed him fiercely, putting as much feeling into the kiss as was possible, and running her fingers through his wet hair.

"Is that a good enough answer for you?" she questioned, pulling away from him.

"That was a very good answer," James grinned. "Only, it was rather short – I was kind of hoping for more of a nice, in depth, thorough answer. You know - one that takes a long time to finish-" he was cut off when he felt Lily lips on his own, kissing him passionately.

He lost himself in her kiss, and felt the pool wall hit his back as Lily pressed herself against his body, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Faintly, as though from a great distance away, he heard some noise and he and Lily broke apart.

"Jeez at last, thought you guys had gone deaf on us," Sirius joked.

Remus, Dom and Sarah stood at the edge of the swimming pool, staring at them, smirking.

"Why am I always present when you two decide to have a heavy make-out session?" Sarah said, her hands on her hips.

The couple blushed, and as Lily attempted to move further away from him he pulled her back into his arms.

"Don't be embarrassed – it's only those guys – it's not like it was my parents," James whispered in her ear, making Lily's cheeks redden even more, but she put her arm round him nonetheless.

Sirius and Remus jumped into the pool, sending a huge wave of water at Dom and Sarah, launching the latter into a fit of squeals. Laughing, Dom picked her up, despite a big struggle, and threw her, screaming, into the pool, resulting in a big round of applause from the boys and a glaring Sarah as she emerged from the water, her brown hair plastered to her face.

"You. Are. Dead," she said.

"You know, that would be a whole lot more believable if you weren't trying so hard not to smile," Dom pointed out, winking.

Sarah couldn't help smiling. Dom's grin, however, wavered, as something behind him gave him a big shove, and he fell, with a yelp, into the water. He came to the surface to find a smug looking Carmen standing at the pool edge.

"Don't act too cocky, mister," she warned, as the girls whooped in victory. He stuck out his tongue at her.

"Why aren't you in your swimming stuff?" Lily asked.

"That's what I was going to tell you, before it became necessary for me to finish off another task," she said, raising her eyebrows rather pointedly at Dom, who rolled his eyes in response.

"I've been asked out to lunch by Phil, so I was wondering if you guys would mind terribly if I went for a couple of hours – he lives relatively near here, and it would just be in the village," Carmen explained, looking at them all hopefully.

"Yeah, sure." James said. Carmen beamed, and jumped on the spot.

"Phil? Phil, who?" asked Dom, suddenly looking sternly at her.

"Dom! His name is Phillip Hughes. He's just a boy from our year – look, stop acting all protective and older-brotherly, it's just lunch!" Carmen said.

"Hmmm. Alright, fine, I'm sorry. Go have fun, then,"

"Great! Thanks you guys. Right I'll see you later." And with that, she skipped off to meet Phillip.

* * *

The day passed by, and, what with splashing around in the pool, and having a laugh playing hide and seek, they were too busy to notice the time fly by. Before they knew it, it was time for dinner. Carmen had come home from her date just ten minutes earlier, and was excited to tell everyone about it. They all sat down at the dining table, and began to eat the delicious meal Mrs Potter had cooked for them.

"So, how was it?" Sarah asked, her and Lily leaning in to hear all the details.

"It was fantastic! We had lunch at this really nice little café, and he insisted on paying for it all!" she said, earning squeals of excitement from Lily and Sarah.

"What are you squeaking about?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of mashed potato, frowning.

"Carmen was just telling us about her date," Lily explained, a look of disgust on her face. "You are revolting, Sirius."

He rolled his eyes at her.

"So, are you two officially going out, then?" Lily asked.

Carmen smiled widely, and nodded.

"Great!"

"Congrats."

"Nice one."

Everyone seemed happy for Carmen, everyone except William, who stared at her for a moment, before congratulating her, a false smile on his face.

They all went back to eating again, Carmen grinning happily, when there was a quiet tapping at the dining room window, the noise caused the people at the table to look round. An owl was waiting patiently with a letter in its beak. Remus, who was nearest, let it in and took the letter – it was addressed to Sarah.

"Sarah, it's for you," Remus said, passing the letter to her, as the owl flew out into the dark evening sky.

Sarah frowned and took the letter from Remus. She turned it over to unseal it, and noticed some words written there. It looked like her mother's handwriting, though it was wobbly and the ink was smeared in places.

_- Please read this on your own – it will be easier that way._

Sarah frowned even more.

"Uh, I'm just going to read this out in the hall," she said distractedly, standing up and leaving the room. The others stared after her, puzzled.

Sarah shut the door behind her and stood just in front of the staircase, leaning on the banister. She opened the letter and saw it was indeed from her mother, and it was covered with tear-stained smudges.

As she read the letter, her eyes began to widen in horror. She stood, frozen to the spot for what seemed like hours, and, in distress, she collapsed onto the stairs, letting out a heart-wrenching scream.

Hearing Sarah scream, everyone jumped up from the table and opened the door, to find Sarah on the stairs, tears streaming down her face, clutching the letter in her hand.

Everyone looked at each other in shock, Lily and Carmen rushed over to her, but the others stayed back, not wanting to crowd her.

"Sarah, what's happened? What does the letter say?" Lily asked, holding Sarah in her arms.

Sarah couldn't speak, she just cried her heart out, her body shaking with uncontrollable sobs. She passed Lily the letter and fell onto Carmen, holding onto her tightly.

Lily read Sarah's letter and put her hand to her mouth. She looked at Sarah, her eyes welling up with tears, and put her arms round her, Carmen doing the same, looking perplexed at Lily.

"I'm so sorry Sarah. I'm just so, so sorry," she said, rocking Sarah soothingly, a tear rolling down her face. She heard Carmen gasp as she, too, read the letter.

"Sarah, come on, let's go to your bedroom, and you can let it all out, come on babe," Lily said, coaxing the trembling Sarah up the stairs.

James hurried over to Carmen, who was still holding the letter.

"What the hell's happened?"

"Sarah's father has been murdered," she said quietly, her eyes not moving from the letter.

"Oh God," Sirius said, his eyes wide.

Lily came down the stairs.

"Dom, she says she wants you," she said, gesturing up the stairs.

Looking apprehensive, he rushed up the stairs to comfort Sarah.

* * *

Sarah's sobs had subsided very slightly. As Dom walked into the room, she let out a moan, and threw herself at him, crying again. Dom didn't say anything, but held her close, letting her tears fall onto him.

After a long while, she looked up at him and kissed him vigorously, the force of it pushing him onto her bed, and he kissed her back, wanting her to feel better. She moved her hands over his body roughly, running them underneath his shirt, and unbuttoning it. She had never done this before, and it surprised Dom slightly, but he continued kissing her. However, when Sarah undid his trousers he pulled away.

"Sarah, what are you doing?" he asked, doing them up again.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she replied, looking at him madly, tears still falling down her shivering face.

"Why? You don't want to do that really –"

"Yes, I do," she insisted, shuffling closer to him.

"No. You don't," he said gently.

"Yes, I do!" she shouted. Dom blinked.

"I want to feel better, Dom – I don't want to hurt, I want to feel alive! If I feel alive, then, then I can pretend he's not dead! I don't want him to be dead, I don't, and I-I- "she broke down into hysterical sobs.

Dom moved over to hug her, but she pushed him away.

"No, go away Dom!" she cried.

"Sarah, I just –"

"JUST FUCK OFF!" she yelled, and lay on her bed, crying into her pillow.

Dom stared for a moment, shocked, before going out of the room, and walking down the stairs, leaving Sarah weeping.


End file.
